This invention relates to the art of prosthetic dental implants and, more particularly, to a split implant and associated abutment for supporting a prosthetic tooth or crown.
There are several systems of implants in use today. Some of them try to resemble the anatomical root of a tooth. These systems, however, have at best produced marginal results. One problem associated with known implants is that they commonly include a circular cross section, while the teeth the implant intends to replace are not cylindrical, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
This characteristic of conventional implants makes them unable to fully solve the problems that arise when the technique of extraction and immediate implant placement is used. In those cases, the circular fixture or platform PF of current implants does not completely fill the socket SK left by the removed tooth, and a gap GP is left around the fixture, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Such gaps extend in both labial and lingual directions due to the difference in shape between the circular fixture or platform PF and the oval or otherwise non-circular shaped socket SK remaining after the extraction of the tooth.
Another disadvantage of known implants is that the resulting gap discussed above allows the socket to collapse after the tooth is extracted therefrom. As such, it is believed desirable to devise an implant that better reproduces the form of the extracted tooth so that the implant will largely fill the socket and such socket collapse can be minimized.
Another problem with known implants is that in situations in which there is less than 3 mm of separation between two adjacent implants, or between an implant and an adjacent tooth, resorption of the bone that separates these two items commonly takes place. Normally, the papilla found between the teeth and implants is supported by this bone. As a result, when the bone is resorbed, the height of the papilla is reduced, which may cause the subsequent collapse of the papilla altogether, which is, of course, undesirable. The circular platform of current implants commonly makes achieving the desired distance between an implant and an adjacent tooth or between two adjacent implants impossible, as illustrated in FIG. 2 by dimensions A.